Senate Judiciary Committee member Amy Klobuchar this morning urged a roomful of lawyers, legal experts and representatives from liberal organizations to be "ambassadors of truth as we go through" Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.

"When people question whether she is smart enough -- you can't make up that you're Phi Beta Kappa," said the Minnesota Democrat, making a point about Sotomayor's academic honors and her credentials in general. "They're facts."

Klobuchar was speaking as part of the liberal American Constitution Society's annual convention, a three-day conference at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., addressed the conference when it opened Thursday night. White House Counsel Greg Craig and Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff and a key handler for Sotomayor, are among the Obama administration figures taking part in a panel discussion tonight.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), herself a rumored candidate for the Supreme Court nomination, will speak at lunch this afternoon.

Klobuchar recalled her meeting with Sotomayor on June 4, drawing parallels between their lives and the way they both view the law. The senator hearkened back to her eight years as a prosecutor in Minnesota to underscore the experience Sotomayor has gained while at the New York County District Attorney's Office.

"As a prosecutor, after you've worked with defendants and victims of crimes... you know that the law is not an abstract subject. It has a real impact on people's lives," Klobachar said. "When I met with her for an hour, I got that sense that she understood that. It's not just a book that's sitting in your... basement."

The senator took particular exception to criticism that Sotomayor is too tough on lawyers as an appellate judge. "At least where I come from, asking tough questions and having very little patience is the very definition of a judge," Klobuchar said. "I was hoping we'd get to a point in this country where we would get appointed rough, to-the-point female justices just as we've appointed male judges" with similar characteristics.

As for charges that Sotomayor is too liberal, Klobuchar said some on the left wonder if she's liberal enough. And the argument that she would be a judicial activist on the high court doesn't stand, the senator added. "I'm sure some people in this room would want her to be more of an activist judge," she said, prompting several nods of agreement among audience members.